Why the right supplements matter as UAE’s sports season returns

Dubai: After a long, hot summer, the UAE’s sporting calendar is beginning to spring back to life.

From traditional sports like football and cricket to endurance events such as hyrox, athletes across the country are returning to competition and stepping up their training as the new season gets underway.

But with the UAE heat still a major factor, preparation extends beyond training, nutrition and recovery, with supplementation playing an increasingly important role for many athletes.

For those competing or training outdoors, hydration is particularly important.

Luke O’Reilly, founder of the Ten Percent Club, is well positioned to assess the role supplements can play in sports nutrition.

The performance supplement company focuses on products designed around areas including hydration, recovery, sleep and performance, while placing an emphasis on transparent ingredients and independent testing.

O’Reilly’s experience in sport and nutrition stretches back several years, initially through engineering before he went on to run a meal preparation cafe.

It was during that time that he said he noticed athletes were often using supplements without knowing exactly what they contained.

“I kept seeing the same problem: athletes putting things in their bodies without really knowing what was in them,” he said.

“Labels full of proprietary blends, underdosed ingredients and marketing claims nobody could back up. I wanted to build the brand I'd want to use myself: transparent doses, no fillers, and every product tested.”

O’Reilly launched the Ten Percent Club in February 2023, growing the business one athlete at a time.

He believes electrolyte replacement should be a key consideration for athletes training in the UAE, particularly during periods of intense heat.

“In that heat you can lose well over a litre of sweat an hour, and with it a lot of sodium and chloride,” he said.

“Drink plain water on its own and you're only replacing half the problem. Performance drops, cramping kicks in, decision-making suffers, and it can become genuinely dangerous.

“In the UAE summer, electrolytes aren't a nice-to-have. They should be part of the training plan.”

While temperatures begin to ease as the UAE moves towards the winter sporting season, athletes can still face challenging conditions, particularly during outdoor sessions and competitions.

Replacing fluids and electrolytes lost through sweat can therefore be an important part of maintaining performance and supporting recovery.

But supplementation is not simply about hydration.

For elite athletes operating at the highest level, small improvements in preparation and recovery can become significant over the course of a season.

“Supplements won't replace training, sleep or good food, and anyone telling you otherwise is selling something,” O’Reilly continued.

“But at elite level the margins are tiny, and the right supplementation, properly dosed and used consistently, can make a real difference.”

There is also another consideration for professional athletes: what exactly is in the product they are taking.

Under anti-doping regulations, athletes can be held responsible for substances found in their system, even when they have taken them inadvertently.

That makes independent testing particularly important when choosing supplements.

“It's non-negotiable,” O’Reilly said. “Under anti-doping rules the athlete is responsible for whatever's in their system, whether they meant it or not.

“One contaminated product can end a career that took twenty years to build. Independent testing like Informed Sport is the only real protection they've got.”

For athletes returning to competition after the summer break, however, the fundamentals remain unchanged.

Supplements should complement, rather than replace, a balanced diet, quality sleep, structured training and proper recovery.

And in the UAE, staying ahead of dehydration can be just as important as the training itself.

“If I could give one piece of advice to every athlete training in the UAE, it would be to hydrate before you're thirsty, and replace salt as well as water.

“Start the session already topped up, keep replacing electrolytes during it, and don't wait until you feel it.”